Amaranth: This is behind the gluten-free pseudo grain

A characteristic of amaranth is that the pseudo grain is gluten free. The small grains also bring a lot of healthy ingredients. Find out why amaranth is so popular for healthy eating in this article.

Gluten-free amaranth - what is it actually?

Amaranth is a pseudo grain.

• These pseudo-cereals include plants whose grains are used in a similar way to cereals, but which do not belong to the family of sweet grasses, i.e. real cereals.
• Amaranth is not one of these sweet grasses, but is native to the foxtail family.
• Like other pseudo grains, such as quinoa or buckwheat, amaranth is also free of gluten. So you can easily include amaranth in your diet even for celiac disease, which is gluten intolerance.
• The small grains can be used in many ways in the kitchen. For example, cooked amaranth is a good side dish. Alternatively, you can puff amaranth, much like you can with corn in popcorn.
• In addition to being gluten-free, the pseudo grain also has a number of things that can promote your health.
• Amaranth is a very old crop. It was planted around 9, 000 years ago in what is now Mexico.

Amaranth for healthy eating

Amaranth is often referred to as superfood due to its healthy ingredients.

• Dietary fiber: they are important for good digestion. Amaranth has enough fiber at around 10 grams per 100 grams.
• Protein: The grains not only contain a relatively large amount of protein, but it is also high-quality protein that the body can use well.
• Minerals: Amaranth is a good mineral supplier. Above all, the amount of potassium, calcium and magnesium are worth mentioning.
• Vitamins: The small grains also bring vitamins B1 and B2.
• Carbohydrates: With 56 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams, amaranth is slightly lower in value than real grains such as rye or wheat.
• However, the oxalic acid content in amaranth is relatively high. For this reason, the pseudo-cereal is less suitable for nutrition with existing kidney problems.
• If you want to benefit from the healthy ingredients of amaranth, you should soak and cook the grains before eating them.
• This removes the phytic acid contained in amaranth, which makes it difficult or even impossible to absorb the ingredients in the body.

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In our next post, you will learn how to plant amaranth.